Author: AJ Vicens
DETROIT (Reuters) – Federal authorities on Monday unsealed an indictment charging a U.S. Army soldier with selling and attempting to sell stolen classified phone records.
Cameron John Wagenius was arrested Dec. 20 and charged in the Western District of Texas courthouse in Waco with two counts of unlawfully transferring classified information on phone records, according to court records, which did not list his rank or where he was stationed.
“We are aware of the arrest of Fort Cavazos soldiers,” Col. Kamil Sztalkoper, a spokesman for III, told Reuters in an email. armored corps. “III Armored Corps will continue to cooperate with all law enforcement agencies as appropriate.” Fort Cavasos, formerly Fort Hood, is located in Texas.
Sztalkoper referred further questions to the Army’s Division of Criminal Investigation, which said it could not immediately provide details.
Court records do not detail the charges, but cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs said on his website that Wagenius went by the name “Kiberphant0m” online and shared multiple hacking claims, including call logs allegedly involving Vice President Kamala Harris and the newly elected president Donald Trump. Krebs said Wagenius was 20 years old, but court records or the military did not confirm that.
A Texas judge ordered Wagenius sent to Seattle, where federal prosecutors are handling the case, according to a court filing.
That office is prosecuting Connor Moucka and John Binns, who are accused of a series of crimes related to a series of data breaches involving “billions of sensitive customer service records,” records of call and text messages without content, banking and financial information, payroll records , driver’s license numbers, passport numbers, social security numbers and other personal information, according to the Oct. 10 indictment.
Wagenius’ attorney was not immediately available for comment.
Moucka, 25, was arrested on October 30 at his home in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, and faces extradition to the US. Canada’s Justice Department did not immediately respond to a question about Moucka’s status. Binns is currently in prison on charges related to a separate hack in Turkey, where he lived.
Moucka and Binns are likely involved in stealing data and extorting dozens of companies from clients of Snowflake (NYSE: ), a data storage and processing company, investigators said.
Allison Nixon, head of research at cybersecurity firm Unit 221B, told Reuters that she and an anonymous colleague identified Wagenius’ true identity after Moucka’s hacking group “threatened us for no reason.” Wagenius was a member of that group, she said.
“The law enforcement turnaround time after that was the fastest I’ve witnessed in my entire career,” Nixon said. “It was amazing to watch.”
Neither the Justice Department nor the FBI immediately responded to requests for comment Tuesday.
(Reporting by AJ Vicens; Editing by David Gregorio)
